Fishing Report for Friday, Jan. 11: Winds and cold put a chill on area fishing

Posted Jan 11, 2019

While steelhead trout are plentiful in Northeast Ohio rivers and streams right now, brown trout like this one are much more rare to catch. This brown trout seemed more than willing. Dave Lake caught it last Saturday in the Rocky River, a brown trout that had also been hooked and released there on Dec. 30 by Kyle Stulock. (Cleveland Metroparks)

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A bitter cold snap and gale force winds have teamed up to put a bit of a damper on the steelhead trout fishing on the Northeast Ohio steelhead streams and halt any chances of fishing Lake Erie from boat or shore for the next few days. With temperatures in the below freezing range, angling success will be more difficult to find.

RIVERS AND STREAMS

All of the steelhead trout streams are shaping up for the weekend, but anglers might face skim ice in the early mornings because of the bitterly cold temperatures. There might also be slushy conditions later in the day.

There are lots of steelhead trout throughout all of the river systems, including the sometimes dingy Grand River, and the Grand tributaries could be in play if a little ice doesn’t get in the way.

Some bigger steelhead trout are showing up, but most caught recently have been in the 2- to 6-pound range. Some 8- to 10-pound trout have been reported lately. The Vermilion River trout fishing, which has been mediocre this year because of silt and sand in the system, might finally give up some trout.

LAKE ERIE

The big waters of Lake Erie are a muddy mess all along the Ohio shoreline after the big winds, and it is going to take a while for the winter walleye, perch and steelhead trout fishing to recover.

The best fishing for walleye had been from Cleveland to the Huron area, where some trophy walleye had been reported caught in the 40-foot waters east of the Kellys Island Airport earlier this week. A few yellow perch had been caught around Cleveland Harbor, where a Great Lakes muskie had been hooked and released recently.

PONDS AND RESERVOIRS

The ice is expected to coat most of the local ponds, small lakes and reservoirs. The frigid weather won’t be cold enough, though, to create safe ice for ice fishing anytime soon because of the windy weather.

The final trout stockings of about 3,000 foot-long rainbow trout will be made in about a week by the Cleveland Metroparks in its Cleveland area lakes, depending upon the weather.

OHIO LICENSE FACTS

Non-resident anglers now need to purchase an $11 Lake Erie Permit to fish the big waters through April 30. That includes rivers, creeks and tributaries immediately upstream of Lake Erie.

The renovated launch ramps at Catawba Island State Park enjoyed a ribbon cutting this week, and are open to boaters and ice anglers, should Lake Erie get fishable ice cover this winter.